Envelope



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED L. SEWELL, OF EVANSTON, ILLINOIS.

ENVELOPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 494,170, dated March 28, 1893.

, Application filed December 10, 1891. Serial No. 414,564. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALFRED L. SEWELL, a citizen of the United States, residingat Evans ton, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Envelopes, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention consists in certain features of novelty that are particularly pointed out in the claims hereinafter, and in order that it may be fully understood I will proceed to describe it with reference to the accompanying drawings which are made a part of this specification and in which- Figures 1 and 2 are transverse sections of the two envelopes of well known construction. Fig. 3 is a diagram of a blank from which either of said envelopes may be made. Fig. 4 is a diagram of a strip of paper from which a number of said blanks may be made by cutting it as indicated by dotted lines. Fig.5 is a diagram of one of my improved envelopes. Fig. 6 is a transverse section thereof on a somewhat larger scale, on the line 6-6. Fig. 7 is a diagram of the three blanks from which it is made. Figs. 8 and 9 are diagrams of strips of paper from which said blanks may be made by cutting them transversely into pieces of the proper length, as indicated by dotted lines. Figs. 10 and 11 are, respectively, a diagram and an edge view of the main blank after it has been folded to form the front and back of the envelope. Fig. 12 is a diagram of one of the improved envelopes differing from the one shown in Fig. 5 only in proportions. Fig. 13 isa section of an envelope embodying some of the features of the invention.

In the drawings thickness is exagerated for the sake of clearness.

Heretofore envelopes have been made from a single blank such as shown by Fig. 3 by folding it as indicated by dotted lines and pasting the back a and flaps I) together either as shown by Fig. 1, where the flaps are on the outside of the back, or as shown by Fig. 2, where they are on the inside. This blank is made from a continuous strip of paper out as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4., the portions 0 being entirely removed and wasted. This waste of material is, of course an obj ection and another objection to this envelope is that the paper used for the whole of it is,

of course, (being all in one piece,) of the same quality, the quality being determined by the strength required at the side creases d-the parts most liable to tear. Paper that gives the required strength at the creases 01 will make other parts of the envelope unnecessarily and disproportionately strong, and as heavy paper is more expensive than light paper, it is, of course, desirable to use the lat ter wherever it can be used without sacrificing the durability of the envelope.

The objects of my present invention are, first, to provide an envelope that can be cut from the stock without any waste whatever; secondly, to provide an envelope the creased sides of which may be made of material of the requisite strength while the other portions of the envelope may be of lighter material and still be of the requisite proportional strength: thirdly, to provide an envelope that can be made by a machine that can be so adjusted as to make envelopes of any required dimenslons.

To these ends, I use a blank e having straight sides and complementary ends, made by cutting a straight strip of paper transversely into pieces of the proper length, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 8, and two blanks ff, made by cutting a very much narrower strip of paper transversely into pieces of the proper length, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 9. The blank 6 is folded on the line'g-g, Fig. 7, so as to form the fronth and back 11 of the envelope, as shown by Figs. 10 and 11. The blanks fare gummed and folded longitudinally so as to embrace the edges of the front and back, as shown by Figs. 5, 6 and 12, completing the envelope.

The blanks f are made of paper strong enough to give the creased edges of the envelope the required strength,while the blank 6 is preferably made of an inferior paper, but since the front and back are less liable to tear than the creased edges, the envelope Will be practically as strong as one made throughout of the material used for the blanks f, f.

I prefer to leave the longitudinal centers of the blanks f without gum, so that when folded their opposite sides will not stick together, and to apply the gum to the edges in spots of greater or less length separated by ungummed spaces of say from one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch, as indicated in Fig. 7, so that the strip may be severed at these ungummed places and the gumming of the cutter thereby prevented.

The envelope may be made according to my invention of any desired size or proportions, Fig. 5 showing one that is narrow and deep, while Fig. 12 shows one that is wide and shallow.

Fig. 13 shows an envelope in which the edges of the blanks fare between the front and back, instead of the edges of the front and back being between the folds of the blanksf.

I am aware that an envelope has been made of two similar pieces, one forming the front and the other the back, and a continuous narrow strip, or three separate strips, pasted to the edges of said front and back, uniting them on three sides. Such an envelope is not the equivalent of my invention and I do not claim it.

What I claim as new is- 1. As a new article of manufacture, an envelope having the frontand back formed of a single piece of material with straight parallel edges doubled upon itself, two of the four sides of the envelope being separate from the front and back and of stronger material folded inward longitudinally and pasted to their edges, uniting them on two sides, substantially as set forth.

2. As a new article of manufacture, an envelope having the front and back formed of a single piece of material with straight parallel edges doubled upon itself, and the separate strips f, f, of stronger material, folded inward longitudinally, the edges of the front and back being between the folds of the strips f, and pasted thereto, substantially as set forth.

3. As a new article of manufacture, an envelope having the front and back formed of a single strip e having straight parallel sides and folded on the line g-g, and the strips f, f, of stronger material folded inward longitudinally and pasted to the edges of the front and back, substantially as set forth.

ALFRED L. SEWELL.

Witnesses:

L. M. HOPKINS, N. C. GRIDLEY. 

